portable welder

That's expensive as far as cheap welders go. You could get one off eBay for probably $45 brand new. However, stuff in this range is basically for light hobby work. Sticking together a handrail, fixing a rusty mower deck, etc. You _could_ do what you want to, but it would take a while and probably wouldn't been too good a weld. These little welders are also a PITA to use.

I'd see if could find a used 220V AC stick welder for sale locally. Do you have a classifieds magazine in your area?

GTO(John)

Have you considered renting one? Depending on where you live, you shouldn't have trouble finding something like a Lincoln 135A MIG unit (using fluxcore) for abou $35/day.

I have my own oxy-acetylene welder, but there have been times where I've run out of gas on a weekend, so I'll rent a MIG unit from Home Depot to finish up a project.

It looks OK. These smaller welders have low duty cycles, which means that you can weld for a bit, then you have to wait a while for the thing to cool down, then you can weld some more. They will have quite low duty cycles at their highest amperage (that one might be a 10% duty at 70A, or weld for a minute and let it cool down for 9 minutes). For the most part a welder like this is simply a transformer. My big Marquette is a very large transformer :)

Such "toy welders" are an exercise in frustration and a waste of money. You should be able to find a 220V 200-amp "buzzbox" with adjustable current output for that money or a few $ more. The difference in capability and ease of use is huge.

The little 70-amp 110-volt toys can only use 1/16" or 3/32" rod (hard to find), it's not easy for a beginner to strike an arc with them, and once the arc is struck the resulting weld is likely to be crap unless one already has enough arcwelding skill to manage a small puddle. On the other hand, about any 220V buzzbox will run 1/8" rod (typically 125 amps or so), is easy to strike an arc with 6013 or

7014 rod, and even a beginner can make decent welds in steel 1/8" to 3/8" thick, thicker and thinner with more practice.

A weldment in steel will have no problem with 1500F. The weld will endure as well as the rest of the parts do.

I bought a Lincoln "Hobby Weld" about two years ago to fix a broken rake and have found the thing to be one of the handiest tools I own. Fabricated heavy sheet metal stuff from scratch with it and fixed countless light metal things with it. I would love either a OA cutting torch and/or a small MIG unit but too pricey.

Small stick welders are dirt cheap - especially second hand. That one is a bit small (70 amps). Look for one around 140-150A (more is better). eg

?itemnumber=33249(220V) (220V)

(low duty cycle but 115v) Look around second hand.; 220V is much better than 115V if you have it. Longer term, an automatic welding helmet is nice thing to have. i have like it.

A welder is a very handy thing to have and once you have one, you will use it a lot as it opens up all sorts of possibiltiies for repair or fabrication of "stuff" you wouldn't otherwise make or buy. Geoff

Some others were saying that I wouldn't get a safe/effective weld (for my current application) with the welder I linked to. Would these heavier duty ones do the job?

Maybe, but dutycycle is very limited on those small boxes. One of 'em is 6% at rated current, which is 36 seconds of welding in any 10 minute period.

Check out

and others like it.

Machines like this will absolutely do what you want to do, and a lot of other stuff as well. They are capable machines and nearly indestructable.

Is basically just more amperage?

They are considerably more powerful, but they're just better welders overall. Smoother arc, easier to start, more power at the high end, probably 100% duty cycle at 80-120 amps like you use most of the time, the machines'll last longer, can use heavier rods, etc.

GTO(John)

Great, now I'll I need is a rich relative to die. Or at least a job.

Genius, If you want something bad enough, you can get it. I took $10 as a bet with a friend a few years ago and turned it into $6,500 from spring till the end of fall, just by going to auctions and yard sales, which I enjoy, and buying any utility type item I thought I could resell at a profit. Remember, if you buy even a 2 dollar item and sell it for $4, that's a pretty good return. Rolled some of the money back into purchases so it would snowball. We have a local Bargain Trader magazine around here, and in it you can advertise any 3 items at a time per week selling for $1500 each or less for free. Whenever people would come to look at a larger item, usually they would end up buying several smaller items. I bought $4,500 in new tools for my shop by the end, and put 2 grand in my pocket. Just a couple of weeks ago, I bought a Toshiba 32" TV for my upcoming new shop at a yard sale for $40. That one's a keeper.

RJ

I have a Miller 180-P 180 amp AC welder I'd like to get rid of. Comes with cables, electrode holder and ground clamp - $140. Course, shipping would be a pain. It's probably around 100 pounds.

Anyone interested?

Paul

You wouldn't happen to be in Eastern MA, would you?

GTO(John)

Hey Paul,

What voltage/curent supply is required?

Take care.

Brian Laws>I have a Miller 180-P 180 amp AC welder I'd like to get rid of. Comes

If you are in Togo, we can talk.

Gunner

"As physicists now know, there is some nonzero probability that any object will, through quantum effects, tunnel from the workbench in your shop to Floyds Knobs, Indiana (unless your shop is already in Indiana, in which case the object will tunnel to Trotters, North Dakota). The smaller mass of the object, the higher the probability. Therefore, disassembled parts, particularly small ones, of machines disappear much faster than assembled machines." Greg Dermer: rec.crafts.metalworking

Having more current makes them a lot better to use. Duty cycle is still a bit low on some of them, but it depends on what you are doing. More current means you can use bigger rods (faster and more penetration) and th duty cycle at the lower settings is usually higher than a small welder at the same setting. Second hand stick welders are common and cheap and run forever. With next to no moving parts (usually 2 wheels...) there is nothing to go wrong. Have a look at the local free-ad papers, auctions, etc. The big constraint is power - do you have 220V. 115V welders are a bit of a waste of time, unless you have no option. Geoff